A LITTLE boy seriously injured in a horrific four-car smash on Boxing Day has returned home from hospital.

Eight-year-old Max Dodd, from Eston, Middlesbrough, was on his way home from a Boxing Day Dip in Redcar when his family’s car was involved in the crash on the A174, near to Kirkleatham roundabout.

Max and his twin sister Halle had to be flown to hospital following the incident, which also left father Andrew, 43, and brother Joe, 11, injured. Another brother, Charlie, escaped unhurt.

Halle was later released from hospital after being treated for a head injury while Max had to be treated in intensive care for a badly broken leg, collar bone and ribs.

Their mother, Deborah, who had stayed at home on the day of the crash, said it was a huge relief to have Max home.

She described hearing about the crash as one of the worst moments of her life. She said: "That morning I thought I'd lost them. It was a massive shock.

"Now we are all so relieved Max is home. You can hardly see where the doctors have put pins in his leg.

"His collar bone is still sore, but he'll be fine… The doctors say it will take several months, but he will make a full recovery. All the nurses took a real shine to him in hospital. He is a real little charmer, they'd do anything for him."

Max is now undergoing special physiotherapy and hydrotherapy treatment at Redcar’s West Dyke Road Hospital.

He has to use a special frame to help him get around and is still on pain relief but is expected to be able to walk again in around three months.

He said: "I have just got out of hospital.  The nurses were very kind to me.  I'm feeling okay but my leg is sore sometimes."

The football mad youngster had raised £13.40 from taking part in the annual dip and will now donate most of the sum – and a further donation of more than £1,700 raised by family and friends following the crash – to the Great North Air Ambulance which rushed him to hospital.